School district spokesman Mark Dennis said proponents of the other charter withdrew their petition earlier in the week, after learning that district officials recommended the board deny the petitions. The withdrawal came in an email from Alicia Berridge to the district on behalf of proposed Building Tomorrows Leaders Charter Academy.

The group may consider submitting another proposal later, wrote Berridge, who is executive director of Rising Stars Business Academy, a charter school in Moreno Valley.

The school board voted 5-0 to pass resolutions denying both schools, Dennis said.

The board concluded, among other things, that the plans presented “unsound” educational programs that were unlikely to succeed.

Parents who send their children to charter schools often are seeking smaller classes and campuses, innovative teaching, and specialized programs in art, music or science. They find the schools to be bargains with the feel of a private school. But charter schools have come under fire from teachers unions and other groups that believe they undermine traditional public education.

The Lake Elsinore school board’s denials were “absolutely not” connected to concern about the impact on the city’s existing schools, Dennis said, but rather based on insufficient petitions.

Board President Stan Crippen said by phone that “there are so many people in education who have great ideas, and want to touch lives and make a difference.”

But he said the petitions didn’t spell out in adequate detail how they planned to operate and fund their schools.

“Basically, it is a blueprint for what they’re going to do,” Crippen said of a petition. “And they can only be held accountable for what is in the blueprint. We have responsibilities and they have responsibilities. And we can’t go back and say, ‘We thought you were going to do this.'”

In the case of the Julia Lee Performing Arts Academy, the resolution stated that the school’s first-year enrollment projection of about 300 students was “overly optimistic.”

But Lee-Taylor said the academy was well on the way to building significant student population.

“Less than 30 days ago, we started pre-enrollment ‘pending charter approval’ and have reached just over 150 students thus far,” she wrote. “All pre-enrollments are coming from us speaking to people one-on-one about our new charter school, and from the word of mouth. Once we’re approved, we’re confident our school will have a wait list.”

Dave is a general assignment reporter based in Riverside, writing about a wide variety of topics ranging from drones and El Nino to trains and wildfires. He has worked for five newspapers in four states: Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and California. He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Colorado State University in 1981. Loves hiking, tennis, baseball, the beach, the Lakers and golden retrievers. He is from the Denver area.